


and now it's time to build (from the bottom of the pit)

by moonlitprincess



Series: when you figure out (love is all that matters after all) [2]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I would protect flint w my life after writing this fic just fyi, Police Brutality, Racism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-09
Updated: 2020-09-09
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:55:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26373067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonlitprincess/pseuds/moonlitprincess
Summary: "The doors to the control room burst open a moment later and Daisy stormed inside, Flint close behind her.“Daisy,” said Sousa, “are you oka -”His words were interrupted by Daisy’s fist colliding with one of the stone pillars, sending an enormous, shuddering quake through the entire Lighthouse. Flint flinched, Yoyo gasped in surprise, and May felt Daisy’s rage be engulfed with pain before dropping down to what May could only describe as static white noise."or, flint & daisy are stopped by the cops, and flint & sousa learn about the not so bright and shiny parts of the 21st century.
Relationships: Flint & Alphonso "Mack" Mackenzie, Flint & Yo Yo Rodriguez, Melinda May & Skye | Daisy Johnson, Skye | Daisy Johnson & Flint, Skye | Daisy Johnson/Daniel Sousa, and daisy really cares abt her lil inhuman brother, flint mack and yoyo are a lil fam, this fic isn't v relationship heavy ok
Series: when you figure out (love is all that matters after all) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1885618
Comments: 13
Kudos: 166





	and now it's time to build (from the bottom of the pit)

**Author's Note:**

> i have not written + posted aos fic since i was like, 17 and posted shit on ff.net and was still a diehard skyeward shipper so this feels absurd in Many Many Ways. so this is my official oh hi again to the aos fandom! i've been hooked back on this show since s4 but s7 just dragged me back kicking and screaming into my depths of Not Being Able To Think About Literally Anything Else Except AOS so here we are. i also did not expect this to be my first one-shot that i posted as a post-s7 fic but this is the one that worked its way through My Depression™️ so even though it's not super shipper-y and kinda niche, i hope you guys enjoy it nevertheless!!! 
> 
> also - this is a part of the 'love is all that matters' series that @CoffeeAndArrows (rach) & I are writing which is basically just all our post s7 headcanons compiled into one shots, most of which will probably be totally able to be read as stand alone fics but also just fit into each other in lil ways! for some context, in this series; 
> 
> \- the team all take some time to a) debrief b) relax c) breathe d) figure out wtf they're gonna do post finale at the lighthouse for ~ 2-3 months before people start splitting up, settling down, new missions etc etc. heading out to where they all end up in the one year later.  
> \- this one-shot is quite early on, maybe two weeks after defeating the chronicoms + nathaniel 
> 
> (it feels rly damn good to be writing fic for aos again, so truly truly hope u guys pop along for this series! pls leave some kudos + comments, i'd love to say hi to u all!) 
> 
> (p.s. - chapter title is from it's time by imagine dragons)

May felt it first. 

(She’d started to become accustomed to the baseline hum of emotions that she could pick up on at all times - talking to Daisy, she’d realised it was somewhat similar to Daisy’s ability to tap into the frequency that everything was vibrating at with  _ her  _ powers. Obviously though, for Daisy, each  _ thing  _ or person had a unique frequency, while for May, nobody felt the same thing all the time every day. But figuring out some kind of controlled baseline of  _ normal  _ helped. It meant that whenever something was  _ wrong _ , May could pick up on it almost immediately.) 

It had been a quiet day, so the sudden surge of extreme emotion truly felt as though they came out of nowhere and came at May with the full force of a freight train. She, Yoyo and Sousa were in the control room - the Lighthouse technology was dated enough that it was a good in between to ease Sousa into the technological developments of the 21st century. Today was the day after Alya had gotten all her vaccinations so she’d been resting most of the day, feeling quite miserable but immensely cheered up by a vast selection of Disney movies and the results of a morning full of baking. Jemma and Fitz had been taking turns looking after her, as Jemma had medical checkups to do on all of the team and was slowly making her way through everyone (Kora being the first one up as she too was lacking recent vaccinations), while Fitz was doing much needed repairs on the Zephyr after its traumatic few months jumping through time. Piper and Coulson were helping Mack figure out where SHIELD was at as an official organisation, but May suspected that particular task was going to take more than a day to figure out. 

Regardless - it was one of the first days that the slowness and lack of routine hadn’t felt like an odd emptiness. 

But it was Daisy’s bubbling, overflowing rage that hit May from the moment Daisy and Flint stepped foot back in the base. It was so sudden and so  _ furious  _ \- not Daisy’s usual kind of fierce, stubborn determination but actual  _ fury  _ \- that May almost stumbled. Flint’s fear and confusion came moments later but they were the smallest of waves, barely cutting through Daisy’s anger. 

“Quinjet’s landed,” said Yoyo as the monitor beeped. “Daisy and Flint are back.” 

“Something happened,” said May. “I - I can feel it. Something’s wrong.” 

Yoyo straightened, eyes wide with concern. “What do you mean,  _ wrong _ ?” 

“Are they hurt?” asked Sousa. 

“I don’t know,” said May. She paused, focused, then shook her head. “No, I - I don’t think so. I can’t feel pain.” 

The doors to the control room burst open a moment later and Daisy stormed inside, Flint close behind her. Both of them looked shaken, but as May had felt: Daisy’s eyes were blazing while Flint’s expression was bewildered. Flint looked younger than he ever had before, and May was suddenly struck by the fact that he really was just a teenager, but was stranded out of time in as terrifying a predicament as Sousa. 

“Sit down,” she said, putting a gentle hand on his shoulder. He swallowed, nodded and found his way to the chair Sousa had immediately gotten up from when Daisy had come into the room. 

“Daisy,” said Sousa, “are you oka -” 

His words were interrupted by Daisy’s fist colliding with one of the stone pillars, sending an enormous, shuddering quake through the entire Lighthouse. Flint flinched, Yoyo gasped in surprise, and May felt Daisy’s rage be engulfed with pain before dropping down to what May could only describe as static white noise.

“Daisy, hey, stop, stop stop -” Sousa was at Daisy’s side instantly, pulling her towards them and curling his hand around her wrist as she uncurled her fingers, her knuckles now covered in blood. 

“Sorry,” she said, but rather than Sousa, she was looking solely at Flint. 

“It’s okay,” Flint said in barely more than a mumble. 

“What happened?” asked Yoyo, crouching down in front of Flint and putting a hand on his knee. Flint shook his head, glancing over at Daisy. 

“I don’t really know,” he said, shrugging helplessly. 

Heavy footsteps echoed from out in the hallway, identifiably Mack’s, and seconds later, the director was rushing into the room, an icer clutched tightly in his hands. Piper followed, both clearly braced for conflict. 

“What’s going on?” demanded Mack. “Daisy, we felt the quake -” 

“We’re safe,” said Daisy. “Sorry, I - I lost control.” 

Mack’s eyes flickered between her and Flint, lowering his icer. “What am I missing here Johnson?” 

Daisy sucked in a sharp breath, forcing herself to look up and meet Mack’s eyes. “Flint and I got stopped by the cops when we were out today.” 

“What?” said Mack sharply, eyes widening. 

Yoyo’s posture stiffened. “Not because -” 

“Yeah,” said Daisy, jaw clenching. 

“ _ Shit _ ,” muttered Yoyo. 

“I didn’t do anything!” said Flint, looking desperately at Yoyo and Mack. “You guys have to believe me, I swear -” 

“Hey, mijo, no we know,” said Yoyo, her voice immediately soft. “That’s not why we’re angry.” 

“I don’t get it,” said Flint. “I tried to tell them - they just kept telling me not to reach for anything and Daisy was telling me to stay quiet and not to get angry and let her do the talking but they were telling her to shut up and stay out of it and then were looking for some kind of I.D. but I didn’t have any,  _ obviously _ , but I - I don’t get it, I thought the cops were the good guys in this time? Doesn’t SHIELD work with them?” 

Mack swallowed, holstering his icer. “They’re supposed to be the good guys,” he said thickly. “In reality, not so much. Especially not for people like us.” 

Flint frowned in confusion. “People like us?” 

Yoyo squeezed his arm gently. “People who  _ look  _ like you.” 

“Wait,” said Sousa, and May was surprised by a low, simmering fury emanating from him. “Are you telling me that this is still happening? Everything that was happening with Civil Rights in the 50s - I thought … it seemed like it was  _ going  _ somewhere, are you saying nothing happened?” 

“Plenty happened,” said Piper, sliding her hands into her pockets. “It’s not like it was back then. People  _ know  _ that it’s not right now. Doesn’t stop it from happening though - the system’s built to protect these assholes, even now.” 

All the colour seemed to have drained from Sousa’s face and he turned away. May had never seen him look (or feel) this angry. “It was supposed to get better,” he murmured, more to himself than to any of them, clearly cycling through the patchy rundown of the last seventy years Mack, Coulson and Daisy had given him so far as though trying to spot the pieces he had missed. He had made assumptions about the state of the world, May supposed, that were a little too optimistic.

“I don’t get it,” said Flint again, shaking his head. “Is it illegal not to carry an I.D. with you? What was their excuse for arresting me gonna be? Not having a drivers license?” 

“They tried to arrest you?” said Yoyo. 

“Emphasis on tried,” said Flint, giving Daisy a weak smile. “Daisy started listing a whole bunch of legal mumbo-jumbo at ‘em. Asked for their name and badge numbers. She talked both of us out of the whole situation.” He shook his head, and May could sense how much gratitude he felt towards Daisy now that he had started to understand what had happened. “How did you know what to say?” he asked her. “That one trigger happy lookin’ dude really looked like he wanted to slap some handcuffs on you too.” 

“Not my first rodeo with friends in your situation, kid,” said Daisy, grimacing. “I was a foster kid Flint, half of my closest friends were black.” Her voice shook a little as she spoke and Sousa stepped towards her again, not touching her, but close enough that May felt Daisy relax considerably. Even then though, Daisy was still letting off waves of fear and May’s stomach lurched. 

“Did they hurt you?” she asked Daisy, a familiar protectiveness flaring in her chest. She knew all too well that Daisy too had her own risks to take in a situation like that, even if nowhere near as dangerous as Flint’s. 

“No,” said Daisy. “Flint’s right though. One of them looked like he was ready to pull his gun the second Flint even looked  _ close  _ to resisting arrest. We were lucky.” 

“Jesus,” muttered Sousa, gritting his teeth. 

“So - they did just because I’m black?” said Flint, his voice suddenly very small. 

Mack nodded. “Yeah buddy. I’m - god, I’m so sorry. We’ve - we’ve got a lot to teach you about what you need to protect yourself from in the 21st century. It’s not a fight to the death with the Kree like you’re used to, but there’s a lot to be wary of here too. I should’ve thought of that earlier.” He exhaled slowly, glancing over to Daisy. “I’m glad you were with him,” he said softly. 

“Me too,” said Daisy, and May felt the proper, gnawing terror finally settle in, saw her hands start to shake, both from the pain of her grazed knuckle and the terror of the  _ what-if’s _ , what could have so easily happened if this had gone even slightly differently. “I’m uh - I’m gonna hole up down here for a few days,” she said. “I always planned on making Flint, Alya and Sousa some new identities but I think it’s clear that they’re important for all of us to have. Just in case.” 

“Let me know if you need any SHIELD files or resources,” said Mack, squeezing her shoulder. 

“You say that as though I can’t get myself access to them already,” said Daisy with a grin, but even that fell flatter than usual. May could sense that she was trying not to let on how shaken she was. She was just about to suggest tracking down Jemma to wrap her injured hand when the Lighthouse comm system crackled with static, and Jemma’s voice rang out through the control room. 

“Is everything okay down there? We thought we felt a quake - was that Daisy?” 

Yoyo grabbed the walkie. “We’re okay. No security breach or anything.” She paused, glancing over at Daisy’s injured hand that she was cradling to her chest. “Daisy’s gonna head up to where you are soon, so she can explain then.” 

“I’m fine -” Daisy tried to insist but she received six identical, withering stares that shut her up. 

“We’re not in the middle of a war anymore,” said Mack gently. “You can afford to take the time to get something that feels small patched up properly.” 

“And seeing Alya will make you feel better,” said May. 

The three year old’s name made the confusing cloud of emotions clear a little in Daisy’s eyes and her shoulders relaxed in resigned defeat. “Yeah. Yeah, okay.” She didn’t move though - none of them did, as though they were all rooted to the spot, caught up in a haze of fury and relief and fear and exhaustion. 

“I can’t believe this is still happening,” said Sousa quietly, leaning against one of the control panels. He looked devastated. 

Nobody answered him at first. May could feel that even those who were far from new to this experience shared the same sentiment. Eventually, Mack sighed. 

“There’s always something to fight for Sousa,” he said. “Which means there’s always gonna be something we can do to make the world a better place.” 

**Author's Note:**

> i know fics are often a place we come to escape a lot of the really tough shit that goes on in the world, but i always feel like there's a line between escapism and ignorance. as a poc, i'm really fckn appreciative of when real shit gets mentioned, talked about + handled in fics that offers the reality of the situation but a hope and safety for the characters that we can't always rely on in in real life. 
> 
> hope you are all staying safe, staying kind to each other, and fighting for what's right in whatever ways you can. sending love to all of u xx


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